Gary Marcus: 'rationalist' now means believers in an AI ghost story
GaryMarcus · x · 2026-09-11
Gary Marcus complained that the word "rationalist" has come to mean "people who believe in a specific ghost story about AI."
Quoting commentator Matthew Stoller, he argued that pointing out AI is a dangerous product is very different from claiming it is a uniquely dangerous product manageable only by a rationalist cult — and that such doom narratives serve to center all policymaking around a single industry. Another flashpoint in the regulatory-vs-doomer debate within AI safety discourse.
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